Critical Essay by J. R. Hamilton

SOURCE: An introduction to The Campaigns of Alexander, by Arrian, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt, rev. ed., Penguin Books, 1971, pp. 13-40.

In the essay below, Hamilton offers an overview of Arrian's Anabasis Alexandri, discussing the way Arrian used his sources as well as the style and tone of the work.

Arrian is remembered today only as the author of The Campaigns of Alexander and as the pupil of the philosopher Epictetus who preserved his master's teachings from oblivion. Yet he was a famous man in his own time. The Campaigns of Alexander was only one of a number of substantial historical works, while he held the chief magistracies at Rome and Athens and governed for a lengthy period an important frontier province of the Roman empire.